NM Sen. Martin Heinrich urges federal action on SunZia power line

SANTA FE - U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich went to bat Monday for the proposed 515-mile SunZia energy transmission line that would traverse much of New Mexico, including a section that is controversial because it is part of air space for White Sands Missile Range.

In a letter to Sally Jewel, cabinet secretary of the Department of the Interior, Heinrich said if the SunZia project were scuttled "it will significantly damage New Mexico's prospects for large-scale renewable energy development."

Heinrich, D-N.M., said the SunZia proposal had been delayed long enough, and that the federal government's credibility was on the line in resolving property use involving military installations and alternative energy suppliers.

"... Another delay on this project threatens the credibility of the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse process. SunZia was selected as an early 'fast track' project for the nine-agency Rapid Response Team for Transmission and was intended to act as an example of how DOD and the Department of the Interior could work together to resolve energy siting conflicts quickly and collaboratively," Heinrich wrote.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's preferred route follows the criteria of the Clearinghouse's letter of approval, Heinrich said.

If an environmental study were reopened on SunZia, "other federal agencies and project sponsors will not be able to rely on the Clearinghouse in their own siting processes, rendering it irrelevant," Heinrich said.

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Tom Wray, project manager of SunZia, said the company would kill the $1.2 billion transmission line if its preferred route is not accepted by the Bureau of Land Management, part of the Department of the Interior.

Wray, a former New Mexico state senator, said SunZia would have no choice because a new environmental review process for a revised route would take years, closing the financial window for the project to be successful.

Under the BLM's final environmental impact statement, SunZia's high-voltage transmission system would start in Lincoln County, N.M., and end in Pinal County in southeastern Arizona. The company lines would transport solar and wind power, capitalizing on New Mexico's abundant natural resources to provide electricity to Western population centers.

SunZia, relying on economic studies by New Mexico State University and University of Arizona, says its transmission system would create 43,000 construction jobs in the two states, 18,000 in New Mexico.

But the project has generated opposition, notably from White Sands Missile Range and U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-Hobbs.

Pearce said the route SunZia wants is a threat to national security because it could impinge on White Sands' training missions.

A combat pilot in Vietnam, Pearce earlier this month repeated his objections to the route. He did this after John Conger, acting deputy undersecretary of defense, wrote a letter opposing the preferred route of SunZia.

"As Mr. Conger highlights in his letter, the route as proposed would impede the military's ability to complete testing that cannot be done anywhere else in the United States. The result would cause a devastating impact on national security," Pearce said.